During a press conference explaining the new “Outright Monetary Transactions” (OMT), Draghi defended the program, said it falls within the ECB's mandate under the Maastricht Treaty, rejected the notion of a “lira-ization” or Italianization of the ECB, and put the ball back into Spain, Italy, and the Eurogroup’s court. Markets were happy, with everything from the Dow to gold to oil and the euro rallying.

“[This decision] was not unanimous,” said Draghi, with a smirk on his face, “[it’s] up to you to guess [who dissented],” he told a group of reporters in the post-statement press conference. The Italian head of the ECB was running the show on Thursday, despite a German reporter mistakenly calling him “Mr. Weidmann,” who happens to be the head of the German central bank (Bundesbank) and almost certainly the sole dissenter.

The ECB delivered what had been a telegraphed move. Leaked on Wednesday, markets players expected the OMT, which consists of bond purchases by the ECB in the secondary market of short duration, coupled with strict conditionality (preferably under IMF surveillance). Draghi even acknowledged that the plan had been leaked ahead of time, telling a reporter “you know everything in advance, so there’s no point for me to answer.” (Read Steve Schaefer's take, Draghi's Unlimited Bond-Buying Program Is Not A Miracle Cure Just Yet).

About a month after his verbal intervention (when he uttered the now famous “the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, and believe me, it will be enough”), Super Mario Draghi broke down the framework of his plan and explained why it will work. The most important takeaway is that after two failed attempts at bond purchases, the ECB is now focusing on “two legs”: bond purchases and conditionality. By forcing governments to request the bond purchases, they are effectively signing up for strict conditionality and, as Draghi sees it, put in "ownership" of their own future.

Questioned about the ECB exceeding its bounds, and threatening its independence, by asking sovereign states to adhere to deficit and fiscal targets, the ECB chief explained that large parts of the Eurozone are generating adverse, self-fulfilling expectations given past policy mistakes. This in turn has led to a “fragmented” European monetary area, where the “singleness of monetary policy” and the transmission of said policy has broken down.

The ECB is fighting “unfounded fears on part of investors on the reversibility of the euro,” said the former Goldman Sachs banker. “Bond markets,” explained Draghi, “are broken in Europe in every direction,” referring to both “convertibility risk” in countries with excessively high bond yields like Spain and Italy, but acknowledging the “convertibility premium” of sovereigns like Germany, where a run for safety has pushed their borrowing costs to record lows.

Interestingly, Draghi’s press conference on Thursday confirmed the “North-South” divide that is occurring both within the Governing Council of the ECB and in Europe as a whole. While Germany opposed the plan, other Northern nations like Finland and Belgium were pushing for stricter austerity and conditionality, while embattled Southern sovereigns like Spain pushed for the opposite. "[There's] a mistaken caricature, especially in this country [i.e. Germany], about how the governing council works," Draghi said, noting Thursday's decision wasn't a "Souther" or "Italian" policy, but a European policy.

Draghi’s OMT bond buying program is but another example of this divide, though. Beyond the obvious dissension of Germany's Jens Weidmann, the OMT depends on the approval of the ESM emergency facility by a German Constitutional Court, scheduled for September 12. Draghi implicitly told markets the court has toratify the ESM, but, as a reporter noted in the press conference, the German people are against the continued funding of its neighbors with its own money. This could mean Draghi knows something the rest of us don’t.

Hartmut Grossmann, ICS Risk Adivsor’s compliance expert and a German citizen, explained that “[Chancellor] Merkel is a shrewd tactician, and she has indirectly approved Mr. Draghi’s plans.” Much like when German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble would voice opposition to ECB bond purchases, only to be rebuffed by Merkel, the German Chancellor could be using Weidmann to “keep the heat on Draghi,” Grossmann noted.

Draghi has done what was in his power, and markets gave their verdict. The most important indicators, spreads on Spanish and Italian bonds over German bunds, have come down dramatically. Spanish benchmark 10-years now trade at a 460 basis points spread over bunds, while Italy’s bonds are 389 basis points above bunds. Shares in European financials like Banco Santander and Deutsche Bank were up more than 4% on Thursday, while global U.S. banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley surged. Gold was firmly above $1,700 an ounce.

The ECB has played its hand. As Draghi put it, “we designed a road […] now it’s in the hands of governments, […] of Spain, […] of the Eurogroup” to make it happen. Two days after a German Constitutional Court rules on the ESM, a Eurogroup summit will bring together finance ministers in Nicosia, Cyprus, where they will discuss the “activation of EFSF/ESM to purchase Spanish debt on primary markets provided Spain accepts to officially request financial assistance, opening the way for a possible implementation debt purchases by the ECB on the secondary market.” The latest attempt to end the European sovereign debt crisis has been set in motion, and Draghi, it seems, is the ringmaster.